


Starring Role

by DarogaDaae



Series: Song Prompt Writing [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Angst, Emotional Infidelity, F/M, I'm Sorry, I'm so sorry, Implied Sexual Content, Infidelity, M/M, This really isn't what I want for them, but the idea wouldn't leave me alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-04-19 14:40:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4750073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarogaDaae/pseuds/DarogaDaae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caboose knows why Church doesn't touch him with the lights on. But that doesn't take the hurt away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> More song prompts, so that's fun. I hate myself for writing this, but I'm really happy with how it came out.
> 
> Song used is Starring Role by Marina and the Diamonds.

Caboose doesn’t know why he keeps coming back. Not really. Tucker tells him to get out, to leave. That he “deserves better than that stupid, stunted jackass.”

But he can’t. He can’t leave, he can’t get out. Because Church is all he wants.

But Church doesn’t want him. Not really.

Maybe Church thinks he really wants Caboose, or maybe he thinks it’ll get better, or maybe doesn’t even really think that anything is wrong. But despite what people think about him, Michael J. Caboose isn’t actually stupid. He _knows_ that this isn’t good or healthy, but… he’s too invested to just leave now. He’s put too much work into this, too much time, too much of his heart and body to just walk away.

Even if he’ll always play second fiddle to a woman that never really loved Church to begin with.

\---

It started so innocently. Caboose knew Church wasn’t really over Allison when they got together, that he’d probably never _really_ get past that relationship, but at least they were in the same room when they would sit and cuddle on the couch and make fun of shitty movies on Netflix. It wasn’t perfect (far from it, really), but he was happy. _They_ were happy, he thought.

Then _she_ called him.

It was nothing at the time. She just needed directions, and Caboose understood that - he always needed directions. And even if Caboose was nervous that Church kept her number, he didn’t want to be laughed at, or yelled at (Church yells a lot - when he’s angry, or happy, or sad, or scared…), so he kept it to himself.

And even though Church thought he was hiding it, Caboose noticed that he was so distracted in the following weeks. When they would sit and cuddle on the couch and watch shitty movies on Netflix, Caboose felt like he was alone, like there was just a lukewarm, Church-shaped thing where his boyfriend used to sit.

Within two months of hearing from her again, Church was spending more time talking to Allison than he was Caboose. And he should have cut his losses then, should have packed his bags and left without a word. But he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.

These days, Church barely touches him. He thinks he’s probably meeting Allison at her place every week. (He thinks he smells her on his shirts, on his breath.) He knows that when he comes in, drunk and handsy and in an unusually good mood, he was with her. That his is not the face or body Church sees that night. (He doesn’t want to be with Church like that, never really enjoys it when he’s like that, but it’s the only thing he got anymore. But he wouldn’t say anything. Wouldn’t ruin the scraps of a relationship he still had.)

\---

But that was before. Caboose doesn’t know why it took him so long. It’s not like something happened. Nothing different, at least. But there he is, his clothes in a suitcase. It’s late Friday night and the dinner he’d made was cold, still waiting. It would wait for far longer than Caboose had, though. Steeling himself, blinking the start of tears away, he slings the bag over his shoulder and knocks on the door before him.

There’s a bit of noise on the other side, a child’s voice and a responding noise from a deeper voice, a shuffle and a series of clicks as the locks come undone, and then Tucker’s face is in the doorway. He lights up immediately, pulling the door wider open.

“Hey, dude!” he starts, voice bright, until he really looks at Caboose. The tight look in the corners of his eyes, the sharp downwards turn in his usually smiling mouth. Tucker’s expression darkens and he grinds out, “What the _fuck_ did he do?”

Caboose ignores the question, gestures vaguely at the floor behind him. “Would it be alright if maybe I stayed here tonight?” he asks, his voice definitely _not_ shaking.

Tucker stares for a moment before apparently resolving not to ask any more questions. “Yeah, man, of course,” he says. Reaching out, he takes Caboose’s bag, ushers him inside. They would talk about it later. Or maybe they wouldn’t.

For now, Tucker could just hope that his bubbly genius idiot friend was still somewhere inside that broken heart.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Really, it was a matter of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can all thank Greeneyedsigma for this bit of horrible. They suggested continuing, and I, as usual, took it in the worst possible direction.
> 
> Thank you. I'm sorry.

When Church showed up late the morning after Caboose had shown up at his door, Tucker flat-out refused to let him in. “ _Haven’t you done enough?_ ” he’d said, the words a whispered hiss in the hallway, and “ _Don’t you realize how much he loves you_?” and “ _How can you keep hurting him like this?_ ” (Though to be fair, this _particular_ issue was a new one.)

He'd sounded sorry, seemed to regret it. Tucker suspected he didn't want a cold bed, heaven knew Church couldn't stand his own company. Regardless of how Church _sounded_ though, Tucker wasn’t letting him inside. Let Caboose pick up the pieces before they get even more fractured. Church left half-angry, but he left.

Tucker put himself back together before he went inside, smiled at Junior and Caboose where they sat playing… he didn’t know and he didn’t care just now. Junior seemed utterly engrossed in the game, but he could see in Caboose’s eyes. He knew who was outside that door, why he had been there, and exactly how the conversation went.

Tucker hoped his friend would forgive him.

\---

Tucker really hoped he was wrong this time, but he felt like he was just staving off the inevitable. Caboose could stay as long as he needed, he knew that. But how much did that ever actually mean?

\---

All his stuff was over there, yeah, but his stuff could just as easily be _literally anywhere fucking else_. But no, he had to go back, just to pick up some things. Just a quick trip, there and back.

Two hours later, Caboose came back with just as much as he left Tucker’s apartment with.

\---

Tucker had done literally everything he could at this point. Given him a place to stay, kept some of the stress off so that he could put himself back together. He knew that when Caboose left, still every bit as broken as when he had arrived but smiling a little more convincingly, it would be to go right back to his old place with Church. He’d even offered to let him take the second bedroom - “ _Nah, Junior can sleep in my room, that’s how we did it for a long time anyways!_ ” - just so he felt like he had options. But he knew this was where they would end up.

Church will be on his best behavior for a while. Maybe a few months.

Caboose will bounce back up, maybe in a couple of weeks, and be on cloud nine for a long time afterwards. _Too_ long, honestly.

Tucker will just wait. After all, they were both adults. He couldn’t stop them, no matter how much he wanted to. He just hoped his friends would stop themselves before they broke each other too badly for him to help.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, you made it to the end! Cool!
> 
> So I'd love it if you could leave a comment. If you wanna leave a suggestion for a song to use, that'd be awesome too. Most of my stuff is probably going to be Churboose for a good long while, if that helps.


End file.
